


Day 23: Drinking Together ft. Shallura

by Pippiuscattius



Series: Pippi's Holiday Shipping Challenge [23]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 25 Day Holiday OTP Challenge, Alcohol, Allura gets riggity-riggity wrecked, Alteans can hold their liquor, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Drinking, Drunken Shenanigans, Drunken cuddling, Drunkenness, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Juniberries, Nah jk she's just kinda buzzed, Protective shiro, shallura - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 08:51:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13120329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippiuscattius/pseuds/Pippiuscattius
Summary: When Shiro can't find Allura for a training session, he becomes concerned. He later finds the princess buzzed on Altean alcohol in the holodeck and inadvertently swoops into the role of looking after her.(Part of my 25 Day Holiday OTP challenge. Will feature multiple ships from multiple fandoms. These will all be quickly-written, silly drabbles so please don't judge them too harshly. UwU)





	Day 23: Drinking Together ft. Shallura

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for alcohol use in this story, but it's nothing especially bad (no alcoholism or alcohol abuse here folks). There is some angst contained within this as well, but it gets overpowered by holiday fluff as it progresses. There's also a reference to my last entry in this challenge, but you don't have to read it to understand this one.
> 
> As I stated in my last Voltron-based entry to this challenge, I'm still not caught up on season 4 of Voltron. Hopefully that won't impact this too badly! ^.^;

Shiro respected Allura for so, so many reasons. For one thing, she kicked butt, and for another thing, she was kind-hearted enough to pass her butt-kicking talents on to him. Since they’d started doing training together on any evenings they happened to be free, Shiro felt that his combat skills and knowledge were improving exponentially. Additionally, it was nice to get to spend time with Allura outside of matters of defending the universe. These training exercises had strengthened their relationship…as well as some particular not-so-platonic feelings Shiro had been trying his hardest to repress.

It was routine for the two of them to meet up outside the training room once the other paladins had all gone to their bunks for the night. Yet for some reason, Shiro saw no sight of the white-haired princess that evening. He’d been at their typical meeting spot for far longer than normal, leaning against the wall and festering with worry. Allura tended to be prompt; it wasn’t like her to be this late, and more worrying still, Shiro hadn’t seen her all day.

A few minutes passed of Shiro standing all by his lonesome, the peaceful humming of the castle his only companion. That peace was broken when Coran came strolling down the hallway, humming a cheery tune to himself.

Seeing an opportunity, Shiro pushed himself off the wall and waved to Coran. “Hey, Coran,” he greeted.

“Ah, Shiro!” Coran brightened, pausing in his chipper walk. “You’re up awfully late for a human, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m fine,” Shiro dismissed. “Hey listen, uh…you haven’t seen Allura around, have you?”

“Allura?” Coran twirled his luscious ginger mustache as he considered. “Oh! Yes, I saw her earlier this evening. She was going towards the holodeck.”

The holodeck…? That was odd; Shiro thought that she’d stopped going there after her father’s memories had been corrupted and destroyed.

“Thanks, Coran,” Shiro said, his mind already set on finding Allura.

The black paladin briskly set off down the hall, intent on finding out what was holding up Allura in the holodeck. In his wake he left a confused Coran, who muttered something about hoping everything was alright between the two before continuing on his walk.

Guided by a one-track mind, Shiro hurried down the hallways. Surely Allura had a good reason to be in the holodeck, but he couldn’t help worrying about her. The Altean had more than proven she could take care of herself, but that didn’t stop Shiro’s protective instincts from kicking into overdrive.

Upon opening the door to the holodeck, Shiro found Allura immediately. The Altean princess was sitting on the floor, leaning against the platform in the center of the room that had once held King Alfor’s memories. In her hand was a glass of a faintly fizzling, lavender liquid. A cylindrical bottle of the same liquid was on the ground beside her.

“Allura?” Shiro gently called.

The princess evidently hadn’t even noticed that he’d entered the room, starting and nearly spilling her glass. “Sh-Shiro! What are you doing here?”

“I came looking for you,” Shiro explained, stepping further into the room. “I haven’t seen you all day. I thought we were going to do training tonight.”

Allura’s eyes had a faint haze to them as she stared up at the paladin in confusion. Her face twisted with sudden recognition. “Oh, training…I’m sorry, Shiro, I completely forgot.”

Too relieved that he’d found her to be even remotely upset, Shiro just reassured her, “It’s fine.” His eyes drifted towards the glass and bottle. “What’s…going on here?”

“O-oh, this?” Allura’s eyes darted back to the glass in her hand, which she’d completely forgotten in the midst of Shiro’s arrival. “I’m…having a small drink, that’s all.”

Worry again began to cloud over Shiro’s mind. “Any particular reason?”

“Not a bad reason!” Allura jumped to defend herself, her drink sloshing over the rim of its container and splashing onto the floor somewhat. “It’s part of an Altean holiday that’s supposed to happen today: the Juniberry Festival. It’s tradition to indulge in Fizzling Juniberry Juice.”

“Really?” Shiro had slid down to the ground to sit beside Allura. “Funny, there’s an earth holiday that’s supposed to happen soon, too…wouldn’t have known it if Keith and Lance didn’t stay up last night making s’mores for us to eat for the occasion.”

Tilting her head and again losing some of her drink, Allura earnestly asked, “Are ‘s’mores’ part of your earth holiday tradition?”

“For some people, yeah. I didn’t think of s’mores being a part of Christmas, but…”

Allura let out a short hiccup of a giggle beside him. “S’mores…that is such a funny word. And Christmas…that one’s funny too.” Another snorted giggle escaped her lips. “Earth words are funny.”

Growing suspicious, Shiro cautiously asked, “How many drinks have you had?”

“Just this one.” Allura held up her glass, which was a little less than half full. “Fizzling Juniberry juice is rather potent, but…I think I’m doing alright.” Another tiny hiccup escaped her throat.

Sighing, Shiro leaned back against the platform. Clearly, Allura was in no state to be training him tonight. It would be better if he stayed by her side to keep tabs on how much juice she consumed.

“Isn’t Coran celebrating the Juniberry Festival too?” he settled on changing the topic. “I saw him in the hallway earlier.”

“I’m not sure…” Allura briefly spaced out, that haze returning to her eyes. “I would have invited him to join me, but I wanted to be alone.”

Face twisting in confused concern, Shiro dared to ask, “Why would you want to be alone?”

Something deeply sorrowful briefly shone in Allura’s blue and purple eyes as she stared into the fizzing depths of her glass. “The Juniberry Festival…reminds me of home. I have many happy memories of my time on Altea, but…I can never go back. Altea is gone. I…think I wanted to be left alone with my memories.”

Apparently, Allura was an emotional drunk. Shiro’s concern melted into genuine empathy as he took in her words. He could relate to missing home; he’d been away from earth for well over a year now. But while missing your home planet was one thing, it was something entirely different to miss a home that no longer existed.

Taking a sip from her glass, Allura continued. “I’m not sure why I’m even celebrating…it only makes me long for a home I can never return to…” The Altean’s eyes started to water. “The Juniberry Festival is supposed to be a celebration of life on Altea, but now…it feels like a funeral for Altea.”

A tear escaped her eyes and left a slowly dripping trail down her cheek. Another pitiful hiccup tore past her lips and her drink sloshed once more.

Panicking at the sight of the princess so distraught, Shiro hurried to fix the situation before it could get any worse. “Hey, hey, it’s okay!” he soothed, glancing about as he tried to figure out what to do. His prosthetic hand reached towards her, stopping just short of her face.

Still not entirely sure what course of action to take, Shiro let his instincts take over as he swiped a metal thumb over Allura’s cheek, drying the trail of the single tear there. She looked back at him with surprised, wavering eyes.

“Let’s talk about something else,” Shiro suggested, not removing his thumb from Allura’s cheek. “Something that won’t make you so sad.”

Staring gratefully at him with still watery eyes, Allura nodded her head, slowly and hesitantly leaning away from his hand. “Tell me…about your earth holiday,” she requested, rubbing a sleeve over her eyes to dry them.

And so, Shiro spilled all the knowledge of Christmas to Allura that he could. He spoke of Christmas trees, giving presents, snow, decorating, baking, and every cultural and sentimental connotation for the holiday that came to mind. Allura seemed particularly amused by the idea of a man in a flying sleigh being pulled by reindeer, cackling and snorting loudly for a minute as she pictured it.

Somewhere in the midst of their cultural exchange, Allura had insisted that Shiro try a sip of her drink. Figuring that it wouldn’t hurt, he obliged, drinking a small taste from her cup when she offered it. It fizzled violently like a mouthful of poprocks and tasted of a sweet, fruity nectar unlike any he’d ever tasted on earth. He also quickly discovered that it _was_ rather potent, as just that single swig set his brain alight with a buzz.

It was a wonder that Allura was only as drunk as she was with how much more she’d consumed. Perhaps Alteans had a higher tolerance for their version of alcohol.

“Your holiday sounds nice,” Allura commented warmly, setting down her now empty cup. “Perhaps one day you can take me to earth to celebrate it with you. I…I would like to go to earth one day. I could make it a new home.”

Caught by surprise, Shiro just stared dumbly at Allura for a few moments.

“I would like to go to earth with you, Shiro,” Allura firmly decided. “We…we can make a home there.”

“W-we?” Shiro stuttered out.

“Yes, we.” Allura slowly nodded her head, squinting at Shiro and closely examining his facial features. A wide, dopey grin settled onto her face. “Human ears are hideous.”

Not sure what to say to that, Shiro just laughed nervously and replied, “Well, I think Altean ears are pretty cool.”

“You would look awfully handsome with Altean ears,” Allura stated. “That would be wonderful…”

Before Shiro could even recognize the blush that brought to his face, Allura yawned cutely and leaned over, settling into a resting position against his side. This only made his blush worse, especially when Allura sighed sleepily and promptly fell asleep on top of him.

Maybe it was just the Juniberry juice in his system, but Shiro didn’t resist the urge to wrap an arm around her back and protectively hold her closer. That juice must have also contained a sleeping agent of some kind, because the paladin found himself drifting off just a few minutes later. Allowing slumber to carry him off without a fight, Shiro promised himself that he would one day fulfill Allura’s wish to see earth with him. And maybe, just maybe, they really could make a home together there.

_Thus ends the twenty-third day of Christmas._


End file.
